By Manuel Ayala
Despite the fear and uncertainty that Donald Trump will be re-elected as president in the November 3 elections, Latino immigrants, community leaders and activists in California and Nevada do not find the immigration proposals of Democratic candidate Joe Biden transformative or sustainable , like the one he did in an interview with Noticias Telemundo that,
if elected in November, he would freeze deportations during the first 100 days of his administration.
Some of the immigrants consulted, who lack immigration documents, believe that this would dispel the constant fear of being deported, anytime and anywhere.
But they also believe that one day it will come to an end, and if transformative policies were not worked at that time, it would be useless without a little more background.
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Momentary tranquility
Mexican Luis Enrique, who preferred not to give his last name, has lived without papers in Reno, Nevada, for almost five years.
Luis Enrique says he lives in constant fear that one day he will be detained by immigration authorities and deported to Mexico
, which would mean separating from his family.
But Biden's proposal doesn't think it would change his life much.
He thinks that perhaps he would live a little more relaxed in those hypothetical 100 days without deportations, with the security that he does not feel now.
Perhaps that would generate greater harmony among Latino communities, he adds, by not feeling persecuted.
But it also makes you reflect on what would happen next, when the promised 100 days are fulfilled.
Would everything go back to how it was before?
In that intermission, would actions be carried out that would allow them to regularize their situation?
Deported migrants in the United States in a file image.Getty Images
In this, María Dolores agrees, who lives in Santa Ana, California, and did not want to give her last name, as she lacks papers.
She believes that the promise would stay in that, a promise.
Then everything would be the same again and "continue living with the fear of so many years," he said.
For more than 10 years, María Dolores has lived in the country without documents.
"Maybe those days one would not spend so much time thinking about it, and we would even forget that we are undocumented, but if they don't help us, then later return to the same thing, I don't see the benefit," he claims.
Your immigration options need strength
Alfredo Ramírez, a Honduran immigrant who in 2018 managed to cross into the United States after arriving in Tijuana with the migrant caravan, believes that this proposal to freeze deportations is not “so far-fetched”, but that Biden “needs strength” to validate what you are promising.
Ramírez, who lives in Los Angeles, points out that, to begin with,
Biden should now explain what the method would be
and how everything that concerns migration would be carried out in those 100 days.
"He has to tell us not only what he would do, but how and under what measures or conditions," he added.
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The immigrants agreed on a point that they consider "very important": they do not forget that Biden was vice president during the Barack Obama Administration, in which for eight years they deported almost three million immigrants, according to figures from the Customs and Protection Office. United States Border (CBP).
[Most Latinos would vote for Biden and Harris, according to an NBC News poll]
Although María Dolores does see a small difference in terms of the type of deportations that Trump has done.
She knows that with Obama, the majority of deportees were people arrested when they entered the country without documents.
With Trump, although they have been fewer, he recognizes that they
have been more significant because people who had 10, 15 or even more years living in the United States have been deported
, already with established families and patrimonies.
“That is what worries, knowing what is going to happen.
Biden has to get us out of the uncertainty, so that Latino compatriots who can vote, do so for him.
That way we would feel supported ”, he stated.
What is required are "transformative" migration policies
Activist Soraya Vázquez, deputy director of the Al Otro Lado organization, which works in Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California, has been tougher on Biden.
The Democratic candidate's proposal is
"without a doubt, an 'electoral' measure, since he is trying to put a band-aid on an issue that requires major surgery
,
"
said Vázquez.
For her, what is required to benefit undocumented immigrants is a "far-reaching" immigration reform, which would have to be thought of a strategy more anchored to human rights and the restitution of programs such as asylum, rather than now "they have been reduced to almost zero," he says.
[It's a lie that Biden wants to tear down the border wall]
Vázquez also believes that the impact of freezing deportations would be temporary, although real: in those 100 days, not so many deportees would be received in Mexico, which would give a respite to shelters that remain overcrowded, short on resources and personnel, and therefore can maintain unsanitary conditions for returnees.
An important nuance in Biden's proposal is that deportations would not stop for those serving time for serious crimes.
However, Vázquez emphasizes that who these people are would also have to be evaluated, because, he says, the United States has
"a justice system that discriminates and there are many Latinos and migrants serving sentences for serious crimes but perhaps they did not commit
.
"
Like some of the immigrants consulted by Noticias Telemundo, the activist points out that a migration policy is required to guarantee rights in the United States and expand the possibilities for regularization, since she believes that it is better for any country to have a population regularized migrant than undocumented.
In Mexico, an opportunity to rethink the care of deportees
According to data from the National Migration Institute (INM) in Mexico,
until before the COVID-19 pandemic, between 120 and 150 people were deported a day
, just through the El Chaparral gate in Tijuana.
The immigrants and activists consulted believe that those 100 days of grace could allow the Mexican authorities to rethink their laws and strategies to assist returnees.
Despite their important contribution to the country through remittances, once they are returned to Mexico and their countries, governments tend to forget about them.
This leads them to be one of the most vulnerable sectors within societies.
This is what happened to Alfredo González, who was deported in 2014. González, 49, now lives in the so-called 'border' of Tijuana, a place nestled in the canalization of the river that flows into the United States, where many end up - to his misfortune - many of deportees who have lost all hope.
González says he was mistreated by the Tijuana police and was unable to find employment and economic opportunities, which made his return much more difficult.
[Trump claims to have done more for Hispanics than his opponent Biden in 47 years]
Trump's impact will be lasting
Pedro Ríos, director of the American Friendly Services Committee in San Diego, is even more pessimistic.
Ríos points out that even if Biden wins in November, Trump will continue to impact migration for years to come.
He says that it must be remembered that, during this Administration, Trump has taken more than 400 executive actions on immigration, which include the application of laws at the border, the enforcement of stricter laws within the country and the revocation of the action known as DACA, aside from almost completely dismantling the political asylum program.
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Also, Ríos highlights, Trump recently brought Cecilia Muñoz to his team, who during the Barack Obama Administration was responsible for dealing with the issue of migration and the reason why he is known as the president who has deported the most people.
"It does not look very good for the migrant community, which is mostly Latino," Ríos said.
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